


A Spooky Introduction

by DreamNotePrincess



Category: A Hat in Time (Video Game)
Genre: A Nightmare Before Christmas AU, Gen, Hat Kid is a Ghost, Moonjumper zombie maybe, Other, Secret Santa, Snatcher is a ghost-like prince, dad Snatcher
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:47:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28071957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamNotePrincess/pseuds/DreamNotePrincess
Summary: A Ghost named Hattie is lurking around Halloweentown trying to learn how to be scary, and runs into the scariest ghost of the town, The Snatcher
Relationships: Hat Kid & Snatcher (A Hat in Time)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 32





	A Spooky Introduction

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Spooky-Rabbit](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Spooky-Rabbit).



> So over on a discord server, I’m taking part in a Secret Santa and I’m the Secret Santa for Spooky Rabbit. They wanted a Snatcher and/or Moonjumper with Hat Kid in A Nightmare Before Christmas setting. 
> 
> This was really fun to work on, hope you have a Happy Holidays Spooky Rabbit!
> 
> Enjoy!!

Halloween Town was a town where Halloween happens every day. Ghosts, the boogeyman, any known monster lived in this town, and if a young child wandered in they would have nightmares for life. However, a child ghost would consider this place to be one of the best places to live.

One particular ghost is Hattie. A child ghost, who is friendly on the outside, but loves to cause mischief. She’d pop in out of places to give people a scare, or move items around sometimes breaking them. Though as of recent, some of the residents of Halloween Town were used to her antics by now. Even her friends were able to sense she was going to scare them.

Hattie was sitting on top of Spiral Hill trying to think of creative ways to scare her friends, but nothing came to mind. “Maybe I can pop up in a fire and scare everyone as I’m covered in fire?” Hattie thought, but sighed. “No, everyone has done that before.”

The young ghost was about to fly off, but something caught her attention. It looked to be a child wearing a hood? She didn’t know who it was and decided to pursue after them. “H-hello!” She called out to the hooded figure.

The hooded figure stopped and turned towards the child ghost before dashing off again. “H-hey wait!” Hattie called out floating after the figure. The hooded person ran faster, as Hattie picked up speed and tried to catch up to the hooded person. “Wait! Please stop!” Hattie shouted. The little ghost didn’t know she was going deeper, and deeper into the woods away from the town.

Just as she was nearing the hooded figure, a purple shadow grabbed her ghost tail stopping her from grabbing the person. “H-hey! Let me go!” Hattie shouted. The monster who grabbed her chuckled and the young ghost froze, she slowly turned to see a purple shadow with glowing yellow eyes wearing a purple and gold prince outfit.

“Why hello there you fool.” He chuckled.

Hattie gulped. “W-who are you?” She asked.

The shadow gave a mocking gasp. “Why, everyone in Halloween Town should know me? Even fools like you.” He explained. “I’m The Snatcher!” He introduced himself as he let the child ghost go.

Hattie’s ghostly blue eyes widen hearing the name. She heard about the Snatcher before. A very powerful spirit who steals souls from anyone who wonders into his territory. No one knows where he came from or he was. The Snatcher just appeared in the forest one day, and that’s how the story of his soul stealing ways began.

“Y-you're the Snatcher?” Hattie asked.

The Snatcher gave a small glare to the kid ghost. “I just introduced myself kiddo. Do you want me to repeat myself again?” He asked.

Hattie glared and crossed her arms. “I didn’t know the spooky, scary Snatcher was also a jerk.” She snapped back.

“Hey!” Snatcher snapped back. “Do you want your soul taken kiddo?” He asked.

“Ha!” Hattie laughed back. “I have no soul! I’m a ghost!” She revealed.

“I have ways.” Snatcher threatened. Hattie gave a smug look and it turned to a stand off between the two monsters. “So, what brings a little ghost like you to my neck of the woods?” He asked.

Hattie sighed. “I’m no longer scary. Everyone knows where I pop out? Or when I surprise them?” She explained, giving examples of her popping up into tree to tree, which surprised the shadow.

“Yeah I can see why. Those surprises were so a lifetime ago.” Snatcher commented.

Hattie glared seeing this monster mock her. “Well, yeah I just need a way to scare my friends without them knowing what’s-” Hattie paused realizing something. She was face to face with the spookiest ghost of Halloween Town. A shadow who can scare any creature in Halloween Town. This gave Hattie a plan. “Wait, you're the scariest monster in Halloween Town, right?” Hattie asked.

“Well, not as scary as the Pumpkin King, but you can say that.” Snatcher replied.

 _“Perfect.”_ Hattie thought to herself. “Do you think you could help me be scary?” She asked, giving a sheepish smile.

The Snatcher was silent for a bit, but then he started to snicker. Soon, those snickers evolved into roaring laughter. Hattie was confused why The Snatcher was laughing. Was it something she said? Soon Snatcher started to calm down, wiping a tear away from his eye. “Oh kiddo, you are hilarious.” He wheezed. “You think _me_ , the scariest creature in Halloween Town will help _you_ be scary?” He asked, calming down from his laughter.

“Y-yeah.” Hattie replied.

The Snatcher leaned in closer and said, “No.”

“What?!” Hattie shouted. “B-but you're one of the scariest creatures of Halloween Town! Why can’t you help me?”

“Because kiddo, I don’t help anyone. Just me, myself and I.” Snatcher answered.

Hattie now had her hands together and was now begging for the shadow to teach her to be scary. “Please. Teach me! Please.”

“Nope. Sorry.” Snatcher replied walking away. Hattie caught up to the ghost and grabbed his arm still begging to be taken in as Snatcher’s scaring student. “K-kid! Let go of me!” He shouted, but Hattie held her ground. The older shadow was getting annoyed that the ghost kid held on to him. Frustrated, Snatcher snapped his fingers and three hooded figures, one of which Hattie was chasing down earlier showed up.

“Yes boss?” The three said in union.

“Remove this ghost off my forest property.” Snatcher commanded. The minions saluted and grabbed Hattie’s ghost tail dragging her out of the woods. The ghost girl tried to remove them off her tail, but with minions held her tightly and soon dragged her out of the forest.

“Hey! Let me go! Let me go!” Hattie shouted. Snatcher snickered and walked off leaving his minions to deal with the kid. He walked to the farthest part of the woods to an abandoned tree with Snatcher called home. With a sigh he sat down in his tree hollow and relaxed before picking up a book to read.

“You know you shouldn’t have been hard on her. She is just a child.” A voice said.

Snatcher snapped up and sighed in disgust. “What do you want now, Moonjumper?” Snatcher asked.

Soon a pale blue corpse appeared wearing a crescent moon mask with glowing red markings. He appeared out of nowhere giving Snatcher a fright. “Please don’t do that.” He begged.

“Sorry.” Moonjumper apologized, giving a smile.

“So what brings you here?” Snatcher asked.

“I saw your conversation with the child, and I’m just here to tell you. You shouldn’t have been hard on her.” Moonjumper explained, repeating what he said earlier.

Snatcher rolled his eyes. “Hey. I’m not having some brat around me!” He snapped back. “Especially if they want help.”

Moonjumper gave a soft chuckle. “You know, she reminds me of you when you were a young shadow.” He reminded Snatcher.

Snatcher didn’t like that comparison and glared at the corpse. “There is NO WAY that brat was me as a child!” He denied.

Moonjumper chuckled. However, he stopped once Snatcher threatened him with a glare. Moonjumper gave a sheepish smile and backed away from the ghost. “Sorry.” He squeaked. “But it’s true. When you were young you looked up at the Pumpkin King, and soon you became the scariest thing in Halloween Town.” He explained.

Snatcher gave a grumble. Moonjumper wasn’t wrong though, but he didn’t have to be reminded as he did live through it.

“However, it would be nice to have another monster around here since...you know.” Moonjumper said, but he paused not wanting to say the name of someone who once lived here.

“Fine. Fine.” Snatcher spoke up not wanting to hear more of the sob story. “I’ll go find the kid.” He sighed, getting up from his chair and leaving his tree hollow. Moonjumper smiled seeing his friend leave.

Snatcher searched them for his minions, since they were the last ones to see Hattie. Once he found them, just sitting down, he went over to them. “Did you see where the kid went after kicking her out?” He asked.

“She just floated away, boss.” One of the minions answered.

“To where?”

The minions pointed to Spiral Hill. From the distance, Snatcher could see a small figure sitting up in the distance. He walked on over to Spiral Hill and saw Hattie sitting there looking down in sadness. Snatcher stopped, not walking closer towards the ghost. He didn’t know what to say to her, heck he didn’t know how to comfort a child!

He cleared his throat, which caught the attention of Hattie. She turned and floated away from the Snatcher. “What are you doing here?” She asked.

Snatcher sighed. _“Can’t believe I’m doing this.”_ He mumbled. Snatcher took a deep breath and started to talk to the kid. “Listen, do you still need help scaring people?” He asked.

Hattie’s ghost eyes widened and she had a big smile on her face. “Are you really going to help me?” She asked, squealing with joy.

 _“This is a mistake. This is a mistake.”_ Snatcher thought. Taking a deep breath he sighed, “yes.” He mumbled.

Hattie cheered in joy as she tried to give Snatcher a hug, only realizing she was a ghost, and passed him. Snatcher sighed knowing what he was putting himself into. “So what am I going to learn first?” Hattie asked.

“Well what are you interested in learning?” Snatcher asked.

“Everything!” Hattie beamed.

“Oh boy.” Snatcher groaned. Hattie giggled as the older shadow led the young ghost back into the woods to help her begin her training.

For the past couple of days Snatcher gave Hattie the training she needed to help with her scaring. He pointed out her skills and what she needed to improve on, or why many monsters know where she’s ready to strike. To add on he had to insult her scaring skills, which offended Hattie, but it did help her learn.

Moonjumper at times watched the two and smiled seeing the two form a friendship. He saw the training went to having fun and back to training again. Moonjumper smiled seeing Snatcher open up to the kid. Sure he can deny it all he wants afterwards, but he enjoyed seeing Snatcher and Hattie bonding.

Even though Snatcher wouldn’t admit it, Hattie started to grow on him. Moonjumper was right, he did see a bit of Hattie in him when he was a child.

Days passed and Snatcher felt like Hattie was ready to scare her friends once again. The child ghost was a bit nervous, but excited to try out all the tricks Snatcher taught her. “Think I’m ready?” Hattie asked.

Snatcher gave a soft chuckle and ruffled the ghost’s hair. “I know you're ready.” He told her.


End file.
